The World's Last Great Quiet Places

Though an escape from man-made noise is becoming harder to find, the natural world continues to sing all around us.

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska

No roads lead to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and there are just a scattering of settlements within its 19.3 million acres. The area is so remote that visitors must be flown into the park on floatplanes in summer and ski planes in winter. “It’s wonderful how lyrical the place sounds,” Krause says. Hike to the Beaufort Lagoon to listen to the haunting cry of the arctic fox. Elsewhere, you can hear a wondrous echo as the wind whips through the empty valleys and across the tundra.

Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana

The Moremi Game Reserve, on Botswana’s Okavango Delta, is a 1,900-square-mile basin of swamps and woodlands teeming with wildlife. It’s an ideal spot to listen to the songs of the birds perched in the acacia trees and wading in the reed beds along the rivers; the cackling of hyenas; and, if you’re lucky, even the quiet, padding steps of a leopard. Peak travel season is July through October, when the animals gather near the water and are most active.

Selous, Tanzania

For the bold natural-sound seeker, Tanzania’s remote Selous is an adventurous alternative to the more-visited Serengeti. Vast areas of the reserve are rarely traveled, and visitor numbers and all human activity are carefully monitored and controlled by the Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism. Among the wildlife you’ll find (and hear) are hippos wallowing in oxbow lakes, Cape buffalo grazing in the grasslands, and lions, whose roars often pierce the night’s quiet.

Samboja Lestari, Borneo

Borneo is one of the best places to hear orangutans howl, and the Samboja Lodge puts you right in the middle of an orangutan rehabilitation center, far from the noises of illegal logging and oil palm plantations. Each room has a balcony, providing a perfect perch to see the apes swinging from branches and, in the evening, to hear the chorus of tree frogs (805-484-9393; two-night packages from Southeast Asia Tours start at $425 per person, double occupancy, including transfers, meals, and guided treks).

Sinharaja Forest Reserve, Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s Sinharaja rain forest is a positively primeval place preserved thanks to its relative inaccessibility. Home to hundreds of birds, the forest has a particularly lovely nighttime symphony, Hempton says: “They were some of the most musical sounds I have ever slept to.” Visitors can stay 40 miles away, in Galle, a historic fortified city whose fine examples of Dutch and British colonial architecture have earned it UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan

Hempton describes Grasslands National Park as one of the last great quiet places in North America. The park has exceptional listening opportunities in landscapes including prairies, valleys, badlands, and buttes. Grasslands is also one of the few remaining places in the world where black-tailed prairie dogs and black-footed ferrets can be seen in their natural habitat, though Hempton says the extraordinary birdsong is the real reason to come.

Muir Woods, California

Great Basin National Park, Nevada

Off of U.S. Route 50, the most isolated highway in the country, Nevada’s Great Basin National Park is so hushed that “you can hear the birds’ wings as they fly,” says a retired superintendent. The arid landscape is home to jackrabbits and coyotes in the desert, and bobcats and marmots in the hills. The park doesn’t get many visitors and there’s no cell phone service in the area, so you’re all but guaranteed a journey into stillness.

Pyrenees National Park, France

The nearby town of Lourdes draws thousands of pilgrims each year, but the Pyrenees National Park attracts people seeking a different sort of healing. The park’s dramatic landscape of jagged peaks and verdant valleys is home to more than 70 species of animals, including bears and Pyrenean chamois, but the most common sounds are those of the sheep being tended by shepherds in the designated farming areas that dot the region.

Olympic National Park, Washington

Olympic National Park, where Hempton staked out his One Square Inch of Silence,is, in his opinion, the last great quiet place in the United States. Its three distinct ecosystems—mountains, forests, and coast—make it one of the most sonically diverse environments anywhere, Hempton says. Though the damp weather can be a challenge, every part of the park can be easily accessed from U.S. Highway 101, which wraps around the Olympic Peninsula. >>

There are 24 waterfalls on the Olympic Peninsula, many of which are within the park. Visit in the spring, when you can hear the fullest sounds of rushing waters created by the runoff. >>

Some logs at Olympic National Park’s Rialto Beach are large enough to step inside. The wood comes from the Hoh rain forest and floats down the Hoh River to the beach. The sound of the ocean travels through the logs and excites the wood fibers, causing them to vibrate, much like a violin.

Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota

The main part of Voyageurs National Park is accessible only by boat, although in winter, the preferred modes of transport are snowmobiles, skis, and snowshoes. Listen for the smack of a beaver’s tail or the croaking cry of the great blue heron (the birds nest all over the park). Walk up the Ash trail and listen for the black-capped chickadee’s clear whistle. It’s best to visit during late spring/early summer, when the ice melts and the animals

grow active after the long winter.

Marconi Beach, Massachusetts

Located along Cape Cod’s Atlantic shoreline, Marconi Beach is part of the Cape Cod National Seashore, which President Kennedy designated as a protected natural environment. A steep sand cliff behind the beach acts as a sound buffer and helps to amplify the natural sonic environment. Go early in the morning to hear the gray seals bark as they feed and play accompanied by the sound of the waves crashing against the beach.